CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Two Camp Lejeune Marines were killed this week in separate incidents in Iraq, the Defense Department said Thursday.

Lance Cpl. Steven L. Phillips, 27, was killed Tuesday from a non-hostile vehicle accident while conducting combat operations near Qaim, Iraq, according to a statement from the military.

The Department of Defense listed Phillips as a resident of Chesapeake, Va., but his family told the Washington (Pa.) Observer-Reporter that he was from Spraggs, Pa. Phillips, an anti-tank assault man, had been in Iraq for about a year, an aunt, Anita Phillips, said from Spraggs.

He was a 1996 graduate of Waynesburg Central High School in Pennsylvania and joined the Marines in 2003.

“He was such a wonderful, caring, intelligent young man. What a waste,” his aunt said.

Debbie Longstreth, Phillips’ high school English teacher, said Phillips kept in touch with several teachers and visited the school before he was deployed.

“His personality was what you remembered about Steven. He was always smiling,” Longstreth said.

In addition, Cpl. Brandon S. Schuck, 21, of Safford, Ariz., died Monday when a roadside bomb exploded while he conducted combat operations in the Baghdad region, the military said. He was assigned to the 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

— Associated Press

Pa. Marine killed in Iraq crash; sailor shot in Afghanistan

A sailor from Pennsylvania was killed in combat in Afghanistan and a 27-year-old Marine — due to return to his southwestern Pennsylvania home soon — was killed in Iraq in a vehicle accident.

Petty Officer 3rd Class John T. Fralish, 30, of New Kingstown, Pa., died Monday from small-arms fire during a patrol in Laghman Province, Afghanistan, military officials said Wednesday. He was a hospital corpsman assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, stationed at Marine Corps Base, Hawaii.

Fralish, who was not married, joined the Navy in February 2002 and was assigned to Hawaii in July 2005. He deployed to Afghanistan last month. He is survived by his father and mother.

Fralish, an avid surfer and 1994 graduate of Cumberland Valley High School in central Pennsylvania, had served two tours in Iraq, said an uncle, John C. Fralish Jr. The family was told that Fralish’s patrol came under fire after it had stopped its vehicles, he said.

“He was an amazing man. He could have become anything, an admiral, a governor, even the president,” his uncle said. “This was someone who had real potential.”

Lance Cpl. Steven Phillips, of Spraggs, Pa., was killed in a noncombat vehicle accident, his family said. He had been in Iraq for about a year, said an aunt, Anita Phillips, of Spraggs.

His father, James Phillips, confirmed his son’s death to the Washington Observer-Reporter but declined further comment. The military had not posted news of Phillips’ death. They did confirm that a Marine died Tuesday in a vehicle accident near Qaim.

Phillips was an anti-tank assault man stationed with the 6th Marine Regiment at Camp al Qaim in Iraq. He was a 1996 graduate of Waynesburg Central High School and joined the Marines in 2003.

“He was such a wonderful, caring, intelligent young man. What a waste,” his aunt said.

Debbie Longstreth, Phillips’ high school English teacher, said Phillips kept in touch with several teachers and visited the school before he was deployed.

“His personality was what you remembered about Steven. He was always smiling,” Longstreth said.